Rebecca Balding (September 21, 1948 – July 18, 2022)[1] was an American actress best known for her appearances on Soap and Charmed.

Rebecca Balding
Born(1948-09-21)September 21, 1948
DiedJuly 18, 2022(2022-07-18) (aged 73)
OccupationActress
Years active1976–2006

Life and career

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Balding was born in Little Rock, Arkansas.[1] She attended the University of Kansas. She had the role of Carol David, mother of Jodie Dallas' child, on Soap, appearing in 19 episodes from 1978 through 1980. Balding played Corky Crandall in 1979 in the sitcom Makin' It, as well as the original female reporter Carla Mardigian during the first three episodes of the inaugural 1977 season of the drama series Lou Grant, starring Ed Asner, before that character was written out for a different female reporter. That same year, she again appeared with Asner, playing his daughter Julie, in the classic Christmas TV film, The Gathering. Also in 1977, Balding played Amy Franklin in Deadly Game, a movie that starred Andy Griffith and James Cromwell. In 1980 she starred in the pilot of the sitcom Mr. and Mrs. and Mr.,[2] that was never progressed as a series. In 1996, she made a guest appearance on 7th Heaven as Ellen, the mother of Matt's new girlfriend Tia.

In 1998, Balding guest starred as Aunt Jackie in the season one episode "The Fourth Sister" of Charmed. She later returned to the show during its fourth season in 2002 under a different role. Balding played the recurring character Elise Rothman, a newspaper editor-in-chief and the boss of Phoebe Halliwell (played by Alyssa Milano). She played the role until the show's eighth and final season in 2006.

Balding was married to television producer James L. Conway, whom she met while auditioning for a part in the 1981 horror movie The Boogens, which Conway directed and in which Balding ultimately starred.[3]

Balding died on July 18, 2022, in Park City, Utah, at the age of 73, after having suffered from ovarian cancer.[1]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
1979 The Silent Scream Scotty Parker
1981 The Boogens Trish Michaels
1983 Kiss My Grits Doris Ann
2005 Yesterday's Dream Mrs. Woodward

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
1976 The Bionic Woman Parker "Jaime's Shield: Parts 1 & 2"
1976 Starsky & Hutch Officer Perkowitz "Little Girl Lost"
1977 Lou Grant Carla Mardigian "Cophouse", "Hostages", "Hoax"
1977 Deadly Game Amy Franklin TV film
1977 The Gathering Julie TV film
1978 Starsky & Hutch Mickie Marra "Class in Crime"
1978 Barnaby Jones Maggie Revell "Prime Target"
1978 The Rockford Files Carol Lansing "Dwarf in a Helium Hat"
1978–80 Soap Carol David Recurring role, 19 episodes
1979 The French Atlantic Affair Harriet Kleinfeld TV miniseries
1979 Makin' It Corky Crandall Main role
1979 Supertrain Ellen Bradford "The Green Girl"
1979 Insight Gally "Checkmate"
1979 The Gathering, Part II Julie TV film
1980 Mr. and Mrs. and Mr. Widow TV film
1981 I'm a Big Girl Now Judy "Best Friends"
1983 Cagney & Lacey Sonia Maltese "Burn Out"
1983 Hotel Penny Domenico "Flashback"
1983 Matt Houston Nan Kimball "The Woman in White"
1984 Matt Houston Sarah "Apostle of Death"
1984 Gimme a Break! Wendy "Herbie"
1984 The Mississippi Deborah "Home Again"
1984 Family Ties Karen Banks "Working at It"
1985 MacGruder and Loud Sandy "Tarnished Blues"
1985 Brothers Janey Waters "It Ain't Over Til It's Over"
1985 Trapper John, M.D. Anna Tinker "Billboard Barney"
1986 The Fall Guy Sandra Andrews "The Lucky Stiff"
1987 Our House Gale Witherspoon "Past Tense, Future Tense: Parts 1 & 2"
1987 MacGyver Susan Walker "Back from the Dead"
1989 The Robert Guillaume Show Jenny "First Date"
1989-90 Paradise Mary McBride Recurring role
1990 Free Spirit Meg Snyder "We Gotta Be Me"
1990 Designing Women Melinda "And Now, Here's Bernice"
1992 Bodies of Evidence Karen Turner "Echoes in the Dark"
1993 Home Improvement Leslie Morrison "Feud for Thought"
1995 University Hospital Nancy Reynolds "Shadow of a Doubt"
1996 7th Heaven Ellen Jackson "Now You See Me"
1997 Beverly Hills, 90210 Jill Abernathy "Toil and Trouble", "Deadline"
1998 Melrose Place Nora Larner "M.P. Confidential", "The Nasty Minded Professor"
1998 Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction Gwen Chandler "Bon Voyage"
1998–2006 Charmed Aunt Jackie/Elise Rothman Recurring role, 23 episodes
1999 Love Boat: The Next Wave Ms. Leigh "About Face"
2000 ER Ms. Garvey "Mars Attacks"

References

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  1. ^ a b c Sachdeva, Maanya (July 21, 2022). "Rebecca Balding death: Charmed and Soap actor dies from ovarian cancer, aged 73". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on July 21, 2022. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  2. ^ Copp, Eagle (August 30, 1980). "Entertainment is low on weekend schedule". The Free Lance-Star. Retrieved August 3, 2022.
  3. ^ John Kenneth Muir (March 2007). Horror films of the 1980s. McFarland. p. 226. ISBN 978-0-7864-2821-2. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
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